Jewellers Urge Extension of Gold Hallmarking Deadline

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The jewellers in India have urged the government authorities to extend the deadline for mandatory hallmarking of gold jewellery, which is due to take effect on 15^th January, 2021. The request comes in the wake of disruption in operations caused by Covid-19 pandemic.

Earlier in November last year, the government had announced its decision to make hallmarking mandatory for all gold jewellery and artefacts across the country from mid-January next year. Accordingly, sale of non-hallmarked jewellery and artefacts made of 14, 18 and 22-carat gold will be treated as an offense. The government had granted over a year for jewellers to register with the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) and shift to hallmarking system. During this period, they were also allowed to sell off the inventory of non-hallmarked jewellery held with them.

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However, the jewellers claimed that the sales and operations have been badly impacted for the past few months, on account of Covid-19. Also, the trade believes that it is likely to take another 3-4 months, before the sales could return to normal rates. Under the current circumstances, there are high chances that jewellers may be left with non-hallmarked jewellery. They urged the government to extend the deadline for another six months until July 2021.